baby don't run, just kiss me slowly
by loved in shades of wrong
Summary: AU FutureFic: Sometimes at night, when she's sure he's asleep, she stares up at the ceiling and Mystic Falls consumes her thoughts, her life before everything bad happened, where the worst thing that happened was Elena stealing her first boyfriend.


Author's Note: I love these two pairings, and this song is written so beautifully that I can picture either hunky hybrids treating Caroline this way, so you have your pick of whoever gets your pulse racing.

* * *

She toes the borderline between Mystic Falls and... everywhere; _anywhere_. When he chuckles, she looks up at him on the other side, his hand stretched out for her to take, the dimples carves in a place on the plain of his cheeks as he smiles patiently.

"Come on."

She looks back down at the thin line that separates all she knows from all she could know. It's strange that this little thing can make her feel safe and protected. It lacks any real physical security, but she supposes it's the emotional safety; the people who she loves is here. That's what makes her feel sheltered. Mystic Falls is her home. Everyone she loves is here.

No. That's not right. Mystic Falls _was_ her home. Her father's dead. Her mother had lived a wonderful and long life before time and nature took its toll on her. Bonnie's dead, Stefan's found someone who deserves him - and last she's heard he's happy, Matt left long ago and Rebekah had followed him, and Damon's looking for Elena who's completely fallen off the wagon. There's no one left.

Her eyes drift back to the man before her. He's the only one she has left. She's the only one _he_ has left.

So she takes his hand and he pulls her over and into his arms. Just like that. She doesn't think she feels any different; the air's the same and it's still cold out. But at the same time, she feels... exhilarated. Like she can do anything, _be_ anything she wants and know one would know any better.

"Where are we going?" she asks. Like a moth to a flame, she snuggles closer into his warmth.

"Anywhere you want."

"Paris."

He takes her hand again and they speed off.

She looks back and watches as the little town she had known grow smaller until it disappears over the horizon. She glimpses his profile and then he's smiling at her. She laughs joyfully.

* * *

"I'm sorry about the stairs, but the elevator's broken."

She shakes her head. "Not at all. But just out of curiosity, how many more floors?"

"Almost there."

They stop climbing and he leads her to a door labeled '14D'.

"How did you find this place?" she whispers, watching him jiggle the door knob until the door creaks opens.

"I compelled some people."

Her brows raise reflexively and she tilts her head to look up at him through her lashes. "You're incorrigible."

Entering cautiously when he gestures for her to go first, a spectacular view of the city is the first to greet her through a floor-to-ceiling window on the other side of the room, and she gasps softly. The city lights against the dark night casts an almost magical glow, and she feels any lingering drowsiness dull as she allows herself to be transfixed at the sparkling radiance.

The spell breaks when the front door closes but she's still reluctant to tear her eyes away from the view. Twirling around, she can barely make out his dark figure, but she smiles blissfully at him nevertheless.

"It's so beautiful," she murmurs, afraid that anything louder will break the trance that slow creaks upon her in this alluring environment.

He clears his throat and starts to make his way over. "I knew you'd like it."

"Is it up for sale? How much is it?"

"It's already taken care of." He comes to a halt when he's close enough for her to absorb his body heat and fill her head with his intoxicating scent. It isn't as difficult to see him now; she becomes aware of his intense stare, and she resists the temptation to look away. "I was thinking that this could be our bedroom." He tilts his head slightly to the right and she follows that direction, a dark oak door that seems so tediously plain as it dolefully stands next to the spectacular winking lights of the city.

"I love it," she whispers before he drifts closer and closer, and her eyes flutter shut when his lips graze hers softly.

* * *

Sometimes at night, when she's sure he's asleep, she stares up at the ceiling and Mystic Falls consumes her thoughts, her life before everything bad happened, where the worst thing that happened was Elena stealing her first boyfriend. Closing her eyes, she tries to picture the view from her new apartment, the only thing keeping her from getting out of bed is the heat his body provides her and the fear that she'll wake him up.

It's only when he's swiping at her cheeks that she feels the dampness surrounding her eyes. Her head lulls to the side and he shimmers behind the curtain of tears instinctually rushing to protect the truth behind her eyes. He's the only person she doesn't need to hide from, though. So she blinks away the shield that separates her secrets from him, and sniffling, she shuffles around and buries her face into his neck. "I miss it."

He strokes the back of her head and pulls her closer, his warmth seeping into her skin and bathing her in comfort.

"I miss everything."

He presses his lips against her forehead as she tries to breathe without stuttering.

* * *

When she left Mystic Falls, she left everything she owned behind. Everything except one picture. A photo that transports herself back to the past - a time when she believed was the last time she was truly content in that life.

She traces the little girl's face with the tip of her finger and twists her mouth.

"What's that?"

Startled, she tears her eyes away from her and finds him peering over her shoulder. She bites her lip and looks back down at the unfamiliar people. "Happiness. Before my dad left us."

Under normal circumstances, she would start from the first chapter and retell every excruciating detail until he knows the beginning to end with no misinterpreting or guessing, but suffocation creeps at the thought of digging up the pieces of her crumbled past from the darkness of her mind. She assumes he understands (he's the exact opposite; he avoids it until he can't hide from it anymore and it becomes the issue of life and death) because he doesn't say anything else, just rounds the couch to fall next to her.

Time seems to slip away in silence - the concept of time seems silly and weak, her immortality taunts its submission to their dominance when they stole the rules of mortality - as she gazes unseeingly at the small photo, and she's bewildered when a drop of something wet suddenly plummets onto her father's smiling face.

"Caroline."

A crackling whimper rips through her throat, though her throat has become so strained that the noise that manages to escape sounds almost like a squeak, and she dives head first into his shoulder.

Everyone she's ever loved has left her and nobody talks to anyone anymore. She has nothing left but ghosts of memories of what used to be haunting her from the small crevices of her mind.

She clutches to the only thing constant in her life now, her body racking from silent sobs as he wraps his arms tighter around her. She thinks she's having a panic attack, the way her nerves feel like they're being chewed out. The lack of contact his arms provide her isn't enough; she needs more, so she climbs into his lap and wraps his arms more firmly around her. She gives him a tight squeeze as she digs her face into his neck and breathes him in deeply and slowly to the rhythm of his steady pulse of the vein in his neck against her cheek.

Her numb calves and aching thighs are telltale signs of the length of time that surpasses them. "You can't leave me," she whispers tiredly.

When he doesn't answer, she pulls back enough so she can see him. His eyes are closed, but the quietness of the way he's breathing hint at her that he's awake. She wipes her cheeks with the sleeves of her shirt.

"You're all I have left." Her voice doesn't lift and her throat feels raw as the words scratch its way up her oesophagus and out her mouth. "Prom- promise me."

His eyes flicker open and they flash a golden yellow before they trickle back to his human eyes, and they're dark as they pin her in place. "I promise."

She nods and she lets him pull her back into his embrace, sniffling as he kisses the side of her head.

She tilts her head back and waits for him to look down at her so she can brush her lips across his. His eyes droop as he peers at her lips rolling behind her teeth, as if captivated. His cupid's bow glistens in the colours the sun left behind. She grazes her nails against the back of his neck when he drops his head and traps her bottom lip between his teeth to sip at it. Her eyes flitter and she feels their lashes brush as she whispers minute kisses over every crack of his chapped lips. The gaps in his fingers find her hair to fill before her lips are pressed firmer against his for a sound kiss.

His breaths puff out against her cheek, her head heavy. "I promise."


End file.
